Mortage scheme ends in arrests

November 15, 2006|By FROM NEWS SERVICES

A member of the Gangster Disciples and a North Side mortgage broker ran a mortgage fraud scheme for at least two years that ripped off "unsophisticated" home buyers for hundreds of thousands of dollars, authorities charged Tuesday.

The money that unwitting victims lost in the real estate schemes allegedly lined gang member Terry Faulkner's pockets and filled his three-car garage in Tinley Park with expensive cars, including Bentley and Maybach sedans that each cost more than $150,000, prosecutors alleged.

Faulkner, 41, and Rodrigo Navascues of the 1900 block of North Wood Street were both arrested Tuesday and charged with one count of being the organizer of a continuing financial crime enterprise, a Class X felony, prosecutors said. A Class X felony carries a sentence of up to 30 years in jail.

Investigators also searched the offices of URB Inc., a Lincolnwood-based real estate buyer, on Tuesday. A search warrant application filed in court by investigators claimed that the owners of URB were involved in the scheme, providing cheaply bought houses to Faulkner, who in turn sold them at inflated prices to victims.

No URB officials have been charged in the case.

The investigation into mortgage fraud began in May, growing out of an ongoing gang intelligence probe of Gangster Disciples drug dealing on the South Side, said Police Supt. Philip Cline.

More than a dozen Chicago police and suburban officers descended on Faulkner's half-million-dollar house in the 7800 block of Joliet Drive North at 7 a.m. Tuesday, taking with them five luxury cars, including a Maybach worth more than $150,000 and a Bentley prosecutors valued at $193,000.

Faulkner declined to comment as he was led out of his Tinley Park house in handcuffs late Tuesday morning.